Skip to main content

Category: AADE

The DOC Makes an Impact at AADE

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve attended AADE 2014 in Orlando, but there is still plenty that I wanted to write about. You may have heard (or read I guess) from others about the session that involved some of the DOC’s own. The session titled, “The DOC Rx: The Role of Social Media in Managing Type 1 & 2 Diabetes” included Jennifer Block, Jill Weissberg-Benchell, Kerri Sparling, Bennet Dunlap and was moderated by Jeff Hitchcock who was a last minute fill-in for Manny Hernandez who could not make the trip.

I was super excited about this session for a long time because any time the DOC can connect with educators is an opportunity to share the amazing benefits of the DOC. As I talked about in my last post, there always seems to be some sort of hesitance from educators, and other healthcare professionals about being involved in social media. Primarily because of HIPAA, there are issues that keep educators offline and also keep from referring their patients to the internet.

hipaa-logoAs we know, just because you read it on the internet means it must be true (that is sarcasm, relax).

The session was opened up by Jeff Hitchcock which included a short introduction of the panel and some information about Friends for Life and CWD and then led to questions asked to the panel. One of the first questions posed was to Kerri about what the most challenging and emotional aspects of living with diabetes is. Summarizing Kerri’s response, there is no reward for doing all of the right stuff, therefore burnout can come from doing these things every single day. An answer like this is seen a lot from people in the DOC especially during DSMA, and if educators were just trolling at least, it could help them better understand the emotional impact of diabetes when their patients come visit them during their 1-2 trips to the office a year.

I personally felt that Dr. Jen Block being on the panel was the best part of the entire session. She is not only a person living with type 1 diabetes, but also a CDE who sees patients. She mentioned several times that she uses the DOC all the time in her practice and that educators as a whole need to expand their vision of the DOC because it is an incredible resource. This point was one of the best made. There is such a defense mechanism up from the HCP community about online information and their patients taking advice from people and then the HCP being held responsible for being the one referring them to the DOC.

The discussion must be made with the HCP and the patient. The discussion must be clear. Do not change any regimes, medications, or any other doctor’s orders without consulting with a physician. Dr. Jen Block made reference to an infamous blog post from Kerri about putting her Dexcom in a glass overnight in order to better hear the alerts from the Dexcom. This is a great tip from the DOC that an educator may never know of and wouldn’t be able to recommend to their patients unless they were involved with reading posts from the DOC.

Questions from the Floor

Once the room was opened up for discussion a question about the number of face to face support groups seems to be getting smaller and smaller and the educator was curious if the DOC was interfering and partly responsible for this. Dr. Block responded that there is room for both. I have personally gone to face to face support groups and they just aren’t for me. Some people may prefer the face to face meeting time, but that poses a problem in itself, the time. The convenience of the DOC to be able to do things on your own time is one of the reasons why face to face support groups may be drawing fewer numbers. It is definitely not the only reason, but is a viable one.

Jeff Hitchcock added to the answer that the DOC provides for an opportunity for real time support. You have a problem or a question right now, you ask it on Twitter or Facebook and you have 10 answers before you an even pick up the phone to leave a message for your educator. The DOC also allows the opportunity to meet face to face as well. I have met more people from the DOC face to face then I have in going to local meet ups organized by a local diabetes organization or my educator’s office.

Have you figured out by now that I am a huge fan of Jen Block? She had mentioned that she uses the discussions and questions from the DOC and turns them into answers for her patients as a CDE. How awesome is that? Taking issues that are brought up in the DOC and then proactively discussing them with their patients can make a patient feel great because they may have concerns that they are embarrassed to bring up or just forgot to ask during their appointment.

Finally, an educator came to the mic and asked about type 2 blogs and resources because it seems that all the discussions were based on type 1. If you have made it this far down into the post, please comment below with any and all type 2 diabetes blogs and resources you know of.

To wrap up the session which seemed to go by way to fast, Bennet and Kerri shared some great information about the Spare a Rose campaign and CGM in the Cloud #wearenotwaiting.

I will be writing one more post about the AADE which is just a summary of links to a lot of big announcements from the industry.

Social Media and Diabetes Educators at AADE

Chris Stocker

I had the honor of attending the AADE Conference in Orlando, FL.  I drove up from the West Palm Beach area Wednesday morning to attend the session titled Social Media-Technology Tools for Online Communication that included Cherise Shockley, creator of DSMA and pure awesomeness!

Unfortunately, due to a bit of traffic in the Orlando area, I entered the discussion about 15-20 late and showed up to a pretty packed room. My very first thought was, “Awesome, there are a lot of educators that are interested in social media.” That gave me a chill down the back of my spine from the very beginning.  Just by attending this session, these educators are taking a step towards either beginning or improving the way they practice and deal with patients in the world we live in today.

The session included a lot of how-to’s for Facebook and Twitter. In fact, in the later part of the session, Cherise provided a step by step (click here, click there, type this) walkthrough of going to Twitter.com and creating your Twitter account. She also walked through the steps of following a group of people, how to search for people to follow and then sent out her first tweet (with that account).

There were questions from the attendees about whether or not to create a personal Facebook / Twitter profile or a professional one, do they use their name or a persona, do they allow patients to follow / friend their personal account, etc. These are all very valid concerns, especially when HIPAA becomes involved (which, seriously, it’s 2014, let’s live like it’s 2014 and not 2004).

The best advice was, “Do what you feel comfortable doing.”

I second that response and think that is the best advice for not just diabetes educators, but anybody that is creating a social media account. Don’t just do it because everyone else is doing it. Don’t just over-share on social networks because everyone else is.

Do what you are comfortable doing!

There was another response from an attendee that I wasn’t able to get the name or social handle for (word of advice, when introducing yourself at conference from now, give your name and Twitter handle), but she said, “Don’t be in your diabetes educator role online.” Meaning, just be a person. Be someone who is listening, who can talk, who can comfort, who is not just someone looking at a data point, but providing real support where and when it’s needed.

Social Media Tools

There were several tools that were mentioned to help you manage your social media accounts, but the main one discussed was HootSuite, which I am a paid user of and absolutely LOVE it. I manage over 40 social media accounts between clients and personal and without HootSuite, I don’t know where I would be. It was recommended to not use the paid version, which is fine if you only have 1-2 accounts that you are managing and I totally agree with that. However, for more advanced users, those that want data and analytics, I would highly recommend the $9.99/mo Pro Version of HootSuite.

There was a little part of the discussion that was used to talk about LinkedIn and creating a profile there for networking. I could go on a lot longer here just about LinkedIn, but I will save that for another day (or maybe another blog). The social media agency side of me feels there is a lot more that can be done with LinkedIn that most don’t realize.

Social Media Advocacy

Other examples of the power of social media that were discussed was Strip Safely, which at first, Bennet Dunlap did not have much to say, but with a little Twitter encouragement, he decided he would put in a few words and share some information about the Strip Safely campaign to Support CDE’s.

One announcement that was made during the session that is important is the new date set for DSMA for Parents with Kids with Type One, which is September 8, 2014. Put it on your calendars now.

Social Media Time Management

Another area of concern that seem to be in the room was the time management side of using social media. Listen, as somebody who owns a digital marketing agency and manages social media accounts for multiple businesses, this is the number one excuse I hear, “I just don’t have time to do it.” There is just so many tweets and I don’t know where to start, and many more phrases.  I get it. I can spend 10 hours a day on social media some days, but realistically, we can’t do that. But I am willing to bet, we can all find 20-30 minutes in our day to visit a social media site. And if you can’t….. then don’t! Once again, that goes back to doing what you are comfortable doing.

Hashtags are probably one of the best ways to help you manage your time on Twitter. If you want to just focus on reviewing tweets from people that maybe are having issues with high / low blood sugars, then the #bgnow hashtag may be great for you. If you are looking for people who use a Dexcom because you have a patient later today that you know will have some questions about their CGM, then you can use the hashtag #dexcom. Twitter Search is one of the most important tools in all of social media.

My biggest word of advice is to not stop using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social platform because you don’t understand it. If you allow yourself to learn, you will. The more you use it, the easier it becomes. And don’t hesitate to reach out to somebody who does know what is going on.

This was not the end of the discussion of social media and diabetes education. There was another session later in the conference that included a few of our own DOC members.

That session deserves its own post.

Finally Attending AADE

Chris Stocker

I have been wanting to attend the AADE conference for about 5-6 years now and I just haven’t been able to attend. This will be my first major conference that I will be attending as “Media”  When I attended Scientific Sessions and Friends for Life (once a piece) it was as a vendor for a company that I used to work for.

One of the many reasons that I started my own company was so that I would have the freedom to attend these conferences and not have to worry about having the time off of work.  Unfortunately, during that same time period and building a business, I haven’t had the financial freedom to attend these conferences.

Since AADE is in Orlando, I am just a quick 2.5 hour drive away and don’t need to worry about a round trip airline ticket which saves me a lot of money, however, the hotel is still an extra $300-400 that needs to be budgeted for.  I decided last year that I will be attending this year’s AADE and I just kept putting a little money aside every month in order to know that I would be able to attend.

I highly recommend this to anybody that has interest in attending diabetes conferences.

Who all is going to AADE? I’d love to meet up with as many of you that I can. Orlando is basically my home, away from home (away from home, since I technically still consider PA my home), so if you need any tips for places to eat at or see, let me know.